Hometeam Softball: Sargent commands on field and at plate

“Hey, that’s sounds pretty good,” Nashoba Regional softball coach Steve Kendall said when speaking of his outstanding junior pitcher, Emily Sargent, who has led the Chieftains to a 7-2 start.

“We’ve been pretty successful so far, and we’re all working together,” said the 17-year-old Sargent, who has struck out 122 batters in nine games.

Sargent notched her seventh win Monday, tossing a one-hitter in a 21-0 romp over North Middlesex. At the plate, she’s climbing toward .600 and she belted a couple of home runs against the Patriots.

Sargent, who began pitching at age 11 and who missed most of her freshman season after breaking an ankle, said she has four main pitches: fastball, changeup, riser and curve. She tossed a no-hitter last season, and has a couple already this year — against North Middlesex in mid-April and Fitchburg last week.

“It was a pretty dominating performance against Fitchburg,” Kendall said. “Nothing was hit past the pitcher’s mound. Emily has really improved from last year. She’s picked it up a notch.”

The 5-foot-5 Sargent credited her improvement to a lot of offseason work at Triple Play in Clinton, plus working with pitching coach Butch Salmi in Fitchburg.

“I would spend a couple of days a week hitting or pitching,” Sargent said. “We’ve all been very mentally focused before each game, and hopefully we can go pretty far into the playoffs this year.”

The No. 5 Chieftains are captained by Sargent and senior infielders Erin O’Donnell and Eileen McGarry, who are both batting well over .500.

Junior catcher Ali Lane is another player above .500, while junior Joyce LaBonte is steady at first base and sophomore Erin Cressman anchors third while both hitting over .300.

Today the Chieftains host No. 1 Hudson in an important Midland B League game, with both teams tied for the top spot and unbeaten in the league.

“That’s a big matchup,” Kendall said. “We had a good tournament game with them earlier and we lost, but that didn’t count as a league game.”

It was a merry month of April for the Assabet Valley softball team, as the unbeaten Aztecs reeled off nine straight wins.

“We’re shooting for a school record of consecutive wins in a row against Central Mass. opponents,” coach Mike O’Brien said.

The win count is up to 28, and with the next victory the record will be tied. The Aztecs play Monty Tech (4-4) today. The record of 30 straight could be reached in Assabet’s following game against Valley Tech (6-2) on Friday.

“Two tough teams this week,” O’Brien said. “It would nice if we can get the record. We’re firing on all cylinders right now.”

Key to the Aztecs’ success has been their two pitchers, senior Brenna Boucher (4-0), who hasn’t allowed an earned run, and sophomore Maddy Parmeter.

Leading the team as captains are seniors Boucher, Morgan Parmeter and Brittany Lutz and junior first baseman Jen Casavant.

Outfielder Nicole Cormier and utility player and pinch runner Becca Cordeiro are two other valuable seniors.

O’Brien, 39, a former outstanding baseball player at St. Peter-Marian and the University of New Haven, praised his assistant coaches John Aramento and Ed Dunphy.

“We play a lot of small ball, and we focus on pitching and defense,” O’Brien said. “It’s been a nice four-year run.”

Last season the Aztecs went 22-1 and captured the school’s first softball Central Mass. championship. In the Division 3 state semifinal, the Aztecs lost, 6-5, in nine innings to eventual state champion Turners Falls.

Entering today’s game, Assabet is an impressive 65-9 in the last four years.

“Our seniors, especially, have brought a lot of respect to the Assabet softball program,” O’Brien said.

“Tell your wife, I’m going to hit a home run for her.”

Those were the words of Westboro’s Jenny Pilkington to me after she read this column a week ago. Pilkington was praised here for her comeback after two leg surgeries and a serious pulmonary embolism.

Pilkington’s story resonated with me because my wife, Janice, suffered similar, life-threatening blood clots in her lungs three years ago after breaking her ankle in a ski accident. While interviewing Pilkington, I mentioned the ordeal.

And you can expect the rest of this story. My wife, like Pilkington, has fully recovered. But she felt even better after learning about a special 240-foot home run over the Rangers’ right field fence last week.